PS 635 

.Z9 

E145 




Copy 1 


Bobbie in Belgium 

BY 

MERAB EBERLE. 


1 




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m\ PRICE 25 CENTSm 



Eldridge Entertainment^House 



Franklin, Ohio 



IXenver, Colo. 



THE NEW COSTUME BOOK 



HERE AT LAST IS A BOOK WHICH WILL BE WELCOMED BY 
EVERYONE WHO HAS AN ENTERTAINMENT IN CHARGE 

AMATEURS' COSTUME BOOK 



.By ELIZABETH GUPTILL 



DESCRIBES ACCURATELY HOW TO 
MAKE OVER 130 COSTUMES FOR 

Mother Goose Characters 
Fairies, Witches, Goblins 
Spirit of Christmas 
Characters of Flowers 
Patriotic Personalities 
Elves, Brownies and Gnomes 
A Variety of Dolls 
Little Folks of Long Ago 
Grecian Maids and Matron 
Characters of Comedy 
The Four Seasons 
Holiday Characters 
Different Nationalities 
Angels, Cupids, etc. etc. 

ILLUSTRATED FROM ACTUAL PHOTOGRAPHS 

Useful to enterprising mothers w^ho are called upon to 
costume their children for amateur entertainments or 
fancy dress parties. ::::::: 

DD I r^ E" i PAPER, 50 CENTS 
■ I^l V t ( CLOTH, 75 CENTS 

ELDRIDGE ENTERTAINMENT HOUSE 

FMNKUN, OHIO ^ ^ ^ ^ DEKVER, COLO. 




BOBBY IN BELGIUM 



A Junior Red Cross Play 



By MERAB EBERLE 



Copyright 1918, Eldridge Entertainment House 



-Published by- 



ELDRIDGE ENTERTAINMENT HOUSE, 

FRANKLIN, OHIO DENVER, COLO. 



^^ih'^" 



CHARACTERS 

BOBBIE — An American boy who likes to sj^end his 

money for marbles. 
BETTY — An American girl who likes to buy dolls. 
FIRST and SECOND BOY SCOUTS— Who are very 

patriotic. 
SUZANNE — A Belgian girl who wants her mother. 
PAUL — A Belgian boy who has seen his mother die. 
KARLCHEN — A dwarf and a German spy. 
FIRST and SECOND RED CROSS NURSES— Who 

are willing to give all they have. 



This play is written so that boys and girls may learn 
through its production something of what the children 
overseas are enduring and so have their tendency to self- 
sacrifice, along the line of giving, stimulated. 

Three different stage settings are needed. At the 
beginning of Act I, and at the end of Act II, an American 
lawn is shown. A cellar scene and a Red Cross canteen 
and supply house are the other scenes employed. In the 
cellar scene, steps leading from the floor above may be 
used effectively. 

As for the number of characters in the play almost 
any number of children can be introduced. A group- 
ing of boys and girls, the latter preferably Camp Fire 
girls or Girl Scouts, may be used instead of Boy Scouts 
alone. 

The publishers of this play have always discouraged 
the use of firearms in the amateur drama. In this par- 
ticular play the use of pistols seems essential, but do not 
use real firearms under any circumstances. Use toy pis- 
tols, or, better still, pistols carved out of wood and 
painted with silver paint. Never trust anyone to point 
an empty revolver at someone else. 

TMP96-J07254 



DEC 12 1318 ©ci,D 00852 



Bobbie in Belgium. 



ACT I. 



(Lawn of a prosperous looking home situated 
someivhere in America. Bobbie is engaged in play- 
ing marbles. Bettie stands by him munching an 
apple. Both children are dressed in the height of 
fashion so that their finery may contrast more effect- 
ively tvith the ragged Belgian children ivho appear 
later.) 

Bobbie — And it is always something. It makes me 
tired. What do you suppose I care for this old war any- 
way? What do you suppose it means to me? "Will you 
buy thrift stamps?" they keep asking me and insist that 
I join the Junior Red Cross. I should say not. An agate 
costs a quarter. (Picks up 7narble and gazes at it admir- 
ingly.) 

Betty — I guess you and I think alike. 

Bobbie — Sometimes I think just like anybody else, 
but mostly I think different. It looks better in a man. 

Betty — In a man? You a man! (Laughs deris- 
ively) 

Bobbie — (Springing to his feet threateningly.) You 
quit that, do you hear me? Quit that! 

Betty — (Her mirth subsiding) I didn't mean any- 
thing. Anyhow if I wasn't patriotic enough to buy a 
Thrift Stamp to help Uncle Sam fight, I guess I wouldn't 
fight myself. 

Bobbie — So you are going to turn into a preacher 
are you? (Starts to play tvith his marbles again when a 
croiud of Boy Scouts enter laughing and shouting.) 

First Boy Scout — We've come to get your names. 
Second B. Scout — We've come to arrest you, Betty, so 
don't you hide. 

Betty — I guess you won't arrest me. So there. No 
one could arrest me if I didn't want to be. 

Second B. S. — Oh, couldn't anybody? Well, we'll se©. 
(Runs after Betty who commences crying.) 



Jt, Bobbie in Belgium 

First B. S. — Say there, fellow. Ease up a little on 
that line of stuff and let's get down to business. 

Bobbie — Oh, you're on business, are you? 

First B. S. — To get you to join the Junior Red 
Cross. 

Bobbie— What's that? 

Second B. S. — You know all about the Red Cross, 
don't you ? 

Betty — I guess so. It's what sister makes bandages 
for and Aunt Jane drives an auto for and mother knits 
for. 

Bobbie — And what makes the hospitals and the 
nurses in them for the soldiers who are hurt in the war. 

First B. S. — You've got the idea, kids. Now for the 
Junior Red Cross. It's what the youngsters belong to. 
They help make comfort kits for the soldiers and prop- 
erty bags for them to keep tobacco and letters and things 
like that in when they are ill and confined to the hospital. 
You know they wouldn't have any handy place to keep 
their things if somebody didn't give them things like 
that, 

Betty — I think it would be fun to make property 
bags. Sister made one out of pink silk for her fellow. 
Such a pretty thing she said to cheer him in those dirty 
trenches and that he could carry it with him to the hos- 
pital when he went. (Clasps hands enthusiastically. ) I 
should love to make one for a fellow when I grow up. 
Maybe I'll make one for you, Bobbie, when you go to war. 

Bobbie — (Addressing Boy Scouts.) What else do 
you have to do? 

First B. S. — Oh, there's a quarter for dues. 

Bobbie — You mean that if I'd be a member of the 
Junior Red Cross that I would have to pay a quarter for 
dues? (Picks up marble and looks at it lovingly.) 

Second B. S.— Yep. 

Bobbie — I don't think I can today. I haven't the 
money. 

Se'cond B. S. — And you, Betty? 

Betty — I haven't any either. Not for that. 

First B. S. — You mean you have a quarter and don't 



Bobbie in Belgium 5 

want to spend it for the good of the soldiers. I bet you'll 
spend it for some doll or other. 

Second B. S. — And I bet that Bobbie has more than 
one quarter. Let's search him, boys. (Whereupon the 
Boy Scouts search him and find money.) 

First B. S. — (Waves money in air.) Look here. 
Enough to make a person ill. Too selfish to help his 
country in the time of war. Here, take your money. Let's 
get, boys. (They file out.) 

Bobbie — (Indignantly.) I guess I have a right to do' 
what I please with my own money. It's mine and I will 
buy marbles when I want to. 

Betty — How do you suppose that he knew that I was 
going to buy a doll? 

Bobbie — Do you know, sometimes I think that all 
this stuff about the children in Belgium and their suf- 
fering is just a lot of bluff to get your money. 

Betty — They say that the Germans cut the children's 
hands off and put bombs in their bread and kill them. 

Bobbie — Just a lot of trash, I tell you. Who ever 
heard of anj^one being mean enough to do such tricks? 
Why I know right here that the Germans would never 
do any thing so mean. 

Betty — And our teacher wants us to buy Thrift 
Stamps and help the Red Cross. She says that all such 
things will help our little brothers and sisters across the 
waters. 

Bobbie — Well, I wish I was there right now so that 
I could learn what the straight of it all is. 

Betty — I'm sleepy. I'm going to lie right down and 
take a nap. 

Bobbie — I'm drowsy too. (They lie on the ground.) 

(Roaring of cannon is heard. The effect may be 
procured by tapping a drum.) 

Betty — Listen ! 

(Roaring continues. Stage becomes suddenly dark- 
ened. Roaring of cannon grows louder. Meanwhile the 
scene is shifted showing a cellar scene in Belgium ivhen 
the lights come on after an instant of total darkness. If 
impossible to make change, draiv curtain.) 



6 . Bobbie in Belgium 

Bobbie and Betty — (Looking about in astonishment and 
drawing close to one another.) Where are we? 

Betty — It looks like a cellar. 

Bobbie — But it is not our cellar, 

Betty — Nor ours. 

Bobbie — Nor any cellar which I have ever seen. How 
do you suppose we got here? 

Betty — And that noise. It sounds like cannons. I 
am afraid. (Door opens and children cringe against the 
wall ivhile Paul and Suzanne enter.) 

Paul — It killed my mother ; I saw it kill her. It was 
terrible. It burst and went everywhere — that bomb — 
and it killed my mother. She was holding my hand. I 
shook and shook her while she bled, but she wouldn't an- 
swer — just kind of smiled a moment at me and then 
moaned and then didn't moan any more. 

Suzanne — I want my mother , Where is she? 

Betty — Do you know where you are? 

(Suzanne and Paul show astonishment in seeing 
other children) 

Betty — Do you know where you are? 

Paul — We know that we are in a cellar. Is it your 
cellar? 

Betty — We have never seen it before — not till now. 

Bobbie — What are those awful sounds and what 
killed your mother? s 

Paul — Has it frightened you so that you cannot re- 
member? Think hard as you can and you will remem- 
ber that it is the Germans. 

Bobbie — In America? 

Suzanne — This is Belgium. 

Bobbie and Betty— WhaXl 

Paul — It's Belgium. 

Betty — And we're Americans and lived in the United 
States five minutes ago. 

Bobbie — I'm not so sure about five minutes. I feel 
as though it were five years ago. 

Paul — One time I would have thought it quite queer 
that you were here. But nothing seems queer now. 



Bobbie in Belgium 7 

Everything is terrible. First it was home gone. Then 
they shot father. I saw that. They held me so I would 
see it and laughed because I shrieked. Then it was my 
brothers and sisters and now it is mother. 

Suzanne — Where is my mother? 

Bobbie— This is awful. What shall we do? Shan't 
we get out of this gloomy cellar? 

Suzanne — No, no! They'll kill you. Don't do that. 
I saw them kill big people and little children and they 
will kill you. 

Paul — If there was just somthing we could do. The 
minute that the English and the Belgians get this city 
back from the enemy, it is recaptured. And when we do 
hold it, the bombing of the buildings where the relief 
work is going on looks suspicious. No matter where the 
Red Cross is stationed it is not long until it is bombed. 
Put it in the east of the city and it is bombed. Move it 
to the west and it is bombed. Those aircraft found it 
when headquarters were put in the cathedral. They blew 
it up when it was stationed at the Renaud school house. I 
suppose they will find it now in the old court house. 

Suzanne — Can't anybody find out who is doing it? If 
there is a spy it seems to me that we could find him. 

Paul — It doecn't seem that anybody can do it. 

Betty — Why can't the children try? 

Bobbie — W^hy not? We'd like to help. (Stone with 
note ivrapped about it is thrown through cellar window.) 

Paul — Things have got on our nerves. Did you see 
us jump? (Picks up stone and reads note.) What is 
this? Say this is something, fellows. 

Bobbie — Let us in on it. 

Paul — Listen. It says, "Let the beacon mark the 
cross tonight." 

Betty — What does that mean? You other children? 

Bobbie — (To Betty) I suppose they don't know auy 
more than we do. 

Paul — It means some mischief. Notes aren't thrown 
about in this manner for fun. It looks like spy work to 
me. 

Suzanne — Really ! 



8 Bobbie in Belgium 

Betty — How exciting! 

Bobbie — Maybe this cellar is the meeting place of 
German spies. 

(Karlchen descends cellar steps.) 

Suzanne — Here's Karlchen. Aren't you afraid to be 
out now? Come here with the rest of us . 

Karlchen — What are you doing here? 

Paul — We are getting away from the little balls 
which the air craft are throwing. Isn't that the reason 
why you are here? 

Karlchen — (Evidently troubled.) Yes. (Looks 
about on the floor as if hunting something.) 

Bobbie — Lost something? 

Karlchen — Er — no. Din't any of you see a paper 
here, did you? Lost one earlier in the day. 

Paul — Must have been an important one to take you 
out when the skies are as bad as they are now. 

Suzanne — Was it wrapped about a stone? 

Karlchen — (Abruptly) What's that? 
Bobbie — Nothin. Betty, it seems to me that Suzanne 
looks pale. Can't you rub her head or something? 

Karlchen — What was that about a stone and paper? 

Bobbie — Nothing. She's been kind of off in her head 
ever since I met her. Rather foolish, you know. Don't 
dare pay any attention to her. 

Paul — Say, Karlchen, what's the matter with you? 
Was it a love letter? 

Karlchen — Nothing. Nothing at all. 

Paul — (Whistling as if sudden idea had struck him) 
Say, is it you that's been doing this dirty work? 

Karlchen — What are you talking about? 

Paul — Playing spy. 

Karlchen — You have that note. Give it to me. (Bet- 
ty mounts stairs and leaves cellar 2innoticed.) 

Paul — Why should I give it to you? 

Karlchen — This is why. (Shows revolver.) Now, 
give it to me, 

Paul — Not on the honor of Belgium. 



Bobbie in Belgium 9 

Karlchen — If it's to be a question of our country, 
then for the honor of Germany, I'll shoot you. 

Suzanne— Oh, don't, don't. Give him the note, Paul. 
Give him the note. 

Bobbie — I think you had better. 

Paul — Never. 

Suzanne — I'll tell. It says — 

Paul — Suzanne ! 

Suzanne — It says place the beacon on the Red Cross 
tonight or something like that. 

Paul — (Handing the note over) Take it then. But 
how could a child of Belgian blood be so base as you? 

Karlchen — (Laughing derisively) Ah — Do you 
know what this means? I do not mind telling you for 
you will be quite harmless. Tonight your beloved Red 
Cross will be bombed. A red light shall burn high on 
the old court house tower and the planes will see it. When 
a bomb at last falls on the red light and extinguishes it 
your place of mercy will be done for. 

Paul — Why do they bomb the Red Cross ? It is cruel. 
It is the most terrible thing which an enemy could do. 

Karlchen — Because it is cruel. We are a cruel peo- 
ple. We shall conquer the earth with our cruelty. 

Paul — We? Who are you? A Belgian child turned 
traitor. Dirt. 

Karlchen — I do not mind telling you that either. I 
am Karl, the dwarf. No, I do not look older than you 
Belgian children but I am three times your age. Your 
faces have grown old and drawn to match mine during 
the last feV months. We are clever. Who, but a German 
would have thought of making a dwarf a spy? 

Paul — You will not live to see the end of this. 

Bobbie — Let's down him. 

Suzanne — Oh, mother, mother. (Boys spring at 
dwarf only to be met with his revolver.) 

Karlchen — Stand back. Stand back. I'll lock you in 
here and then what damage can you do? You will be in 
a deserted cellar in a deserted part of the city. I would 
kill you but it would be more fun to have you starve to 
death. When you hear the bombs roaring tonight you 



10 Bobbie in Belgium 

will know that it is eight o'clock. You will starve to 
death and I — I will go on spying. (He has been backing 
up the cellar- stairs as he has been talking. He laughs 
derisively as the grating of the lock is heard.) 

Paul — (Springs up the stairs and shakes the door.) 
It's locked. 

Bobbie — Why did you tell him about that note? "We 
might have worked it so that he would have been cap- 
tured. 

Suzanne — I didn't think. 

Bobbie — Talk about boys having all the sense. Why, 
Betty has more than you two put — (looks about him) 
Why, where is Betty? 

Suzarme — She went a long time ago. (A grating of 
the lock is heard.) 

Paul — Some one is there, (Betty enters.) 

Bobbie — Hello, there. 

Betty — Isn't it a good thing that I thought to leave 
and also that I had a hairpin ? He'd of had us in forever. 

Bobbie — I say, you've got more sense than all of us. 

Paul — A clever girl, I'm sure. Maybe she can think 
of some way to save the Red Cross. 

Bobbie — Let's save it ourselves. Just we four. 

Betty — I second the motion. 

Paul — I third it. 

Suzanne — And I fourth it. 

Bobbie — Then let's go. It is growing late now. See 
how dark it is getting. 

CURTAIN 

ACT 11. 

(^ScENE — A Red Cross store room glorified into 
all the offices of the Red Cross. An effective back- 
drop in this case 2vould be a white background cen- 
tered by a huge red cross. Everything should be im- 
maculate. Bandages and neatly folded garments 
should be conspicuous. Since it is to be a general 
source of comfort there should be food to give out. 
Ttvo cots stand well to the side front. Two Red 



Bobbie in Belgium ' u 

Cross nurses are ministering to the people's ivants. 
Bobbie, Suzanne, Betty and Paul enter, breathless.) 

Bobbie — Now we must watch for him. 

First Nurse— \Nhd.t do you want, children? 

Betty — We want to rest; we are tired. 

First Nurse— Take all the rest you need. Come, here 
are cots for two of you. We can throw blankets on the 
floor for the others. 

Paw/— Oh, no. Please, no. We aren't tired. You 
know, Suzanne, that you aren't tired. 

First Nurse— (Takes Suzanne by the arm.) Come 
child, and rest. ' 

Suzanyie — (Escapes from her.) Oh, no, I am not 
tired. I do not wish to rest. 

Betty— I do not feel at all tired. There is some- 
thing about this place which rests me. 

First Nurse— (Brings forth basket.) Here are sand- 
wiches. Perhaps you will eat if you will not sleep. 

Suzanne — (Devouring sandivich) I wish he'd come. 

Paul— I tell you what let's do. Suppose we go on the 
outside and watch for him. We can each stand on a side 
of the building. 

Bobbie— Pretty good plan, I say. Come on. (They 
exit.) 

First Nurse— The poor children. I suppose they 
have no homes. Perhaps they were well cared for once. 
They are nice looking children. 

(Karchen enters. He is disguised in a girl's dress and 
wears a sunbonnet.) 

Karlche7i— Quick I A tottering wall has fallen on 
my parents. I can hear my mother scream. But I can't 
hear my father. They are digging them out. Go, dear 
nurses, go and help them, please. 

First Nurse — Then together with some bandages we 
must hurry. Come show us, child, where you live. 

Karlchen — I have twisted my ankle and it hurts me 
so to walk. 

Second Nurse — I suppose that we must find our own 
way. 



12 Bobbie in Belgium 

Karlchen — It is easy. It is the street where the old 
fountain was and is next to the church of St. Mary. 

Second Nurse — (Leading Karlchen to cot.) Lie 
there, child, until we return. Perhaps things are not so 
bad. Watch that no harm comes to this place. (Nurses 
exit.) 

Karlchen — (Springing from cot and laying aside 
sunbonnet.) Yes, Karlchen the dwarf will protect the 
Eed Cross. He will see that no harm comes to it. (Takes 
off dress, shoioing same costume as in Act I.) He will 
put a red beacon on the housetop and in one hour there 
will be no Red Cross. If I could have thought of a way 
in which to have blown those nurses up it would have 
been better sport, but they were in the way here. For 
the honor of Germany I will work tonight. I but name 
her name and I have courage to commit any crime. Out- 
rages become glorious deeds. (Looks about) I hear 
footsteps. (Exit.) 

Paul — It is almost eight o'clock and as yet no one has 
entered. 

Betty — No one but the little girl. She was hurrying 
so that she did not see me. Poor thing. I crept up to 
the door and heard her tell the nurses that a ruined 
wall had fallen on her parents. 

Bobbie — Did she leave with the nurses? 

Betty— ^o. 

Bobbie — Where is she? 

Betty — Here's her bonnet. 

Suzanne — Is this her dress? 

Bobbie — This looks bad to me. Why has she gone? 
And why did she leave her clothes here? 

Pawi— Why? 

Bobbie — That girl was Karlchen. 

Seiti/— Really? 

Bobbie — Beyond any doubt. Now for him. He slip- 
ped us cleverly. 

Betty — Is there nothing we can do? 

Bobbie — Paul, you go watch on the outside. Su- 
zanne, you go with him. Betty, you stay with me. Take 
this revolver, Paul. I have two. I stole them on my 
way. It is for the honor of America. 



Bobbie in Belgium IS 

Paul — It is for the honor of Belgium. (Strokes re- 
volver.) Little firearm, you must do your work well, 
since it is for the honor of Belgium. (Suzanne and Paul 
exit.) 

Bobbie — Now we must watch here. We must hide. 
You stand behind this screen and I will stay back of this 
curtain. We must get him if he comes this way. (They 
hide.) 

Betty — I am afraid. 

Bobbie — Hold tight to your little flag pin. That will 
help. (Pause) Quiet, I hear some one coming. 

(Enter Karlchen.) 

Karlchen — (Gleefully) Brighter and brighter will 
the beacon grow and the bombs of our airplanes will hurl 
destruction on this accursed place. We shall bring 
death and again death until the world is ours. (Laughs 
derisively.) The children will cry over the destruction of 
the Red Cross — the whining wretches. Some have no 
eyes, some have no feet, some have no hands and four 
will starve to death in a cellar. Bitterly shall Germany 
pay Belgium for her stubbornness. 

Bobbie — (Stepping from hiding place) Not if Amer- 
ica has anything to say about it. Germany is going to 
be licked to a finish. Hold up your hands for one of the 
brats you locked in a cellar. 

Karlchen — You! What do you mean, you wretch? 

Bobbie — I mean to save the Red Cross. Where is 
that beacon light? 

Karlchen — It stands burning on the tower. Are you 
not afraid to stand here? Look from the window, you 
can see the planes coming now. (Bobbie instinctively 
turns head and Karlchen draws his revolver. Laughs.) 

Karlchen — Now, are you going to fire? (They stand 
aiming at one another.) 

Bobbie — I can hold mine as steadily as you can yours 
and believe me, I know how to shoot even if I am a boy. 
I'm an American. 

Karlcherir— Aren't you afraid of getting hurt? The 
planes are coming. 



1J^ Bobbie in Belgium 

Bobbie — I can stand it if you can. If a bomb kills 
me, it will kill you. It's tit for tat. 

Karlchen — I'll kill you. (Betty, who has been creep- 
ing from her hiding place knocks revolver from his hayid) 
Two of you ! 

Bobbie — Yes, two of us. And we're going to stick 
this out. Either you climb to that roof and take down 
that beacon or you stay here to die with us. (Bombing 
is heard in the distance.) 

Karlchen — (Cringing) But the planes are coming. 
They will be on us in a minute. 

Bobbie — You can kill others, but you are afraid 
yourself. You are as stunted in your courage as you are 
in your body. Little children you can see perish by the 
score, but you are afraid of your precious self. Get that 
beacon. 

Karlchen — (Beside himself tvith terror.) But the 
planes are coming. (Bombing grows louder.) 

(Enter Paul and Suzanne.) 

Paul — You must get out of here and to some cellar 
the planes are coming this way. (Sees the dwarf.) 
Karlchen! Did you get him? 

Bobbie — Yes, and because he is afraid to get the 
beacon which he has placed on the tower so that the Red 
Cross might be blown to pieces, he is going to stay here 
and get blown to pieces too. Betty, you and the others 
get out. I'll finish this job. 

Betty — I guess that I am as brave as you are. 

Paul — I'll stay. 

Suzanne — And so will I. This is the affair of all of 
us. 

Paid — I will go after the beacon. 

Bobbie — Good, I will hold him cornered here in the 
meantime. 

Karlchen — He is too late. I can hear the purring of 
the motors now. (Springs to ivindow. Terrific bombing. 
Shrieks and darkness. For one minute the stage remains 
black while the noise of bombing grows less distinct. 
Lights at length come on and the scene is again that of 
an American lawn. Bobbie and Betty are lying there.) 



Bobbie in Belgium 15 

Bobbie— (Waking) Oh! (Sits up.) 

Betty — Oh, I have been dreaming. (Sits up.) 

Bobbie — And so have I, terribly, I was in Belgium. 

Betty— What 1 

Bobbie — At the point of my revolver I held Karl- 
chen the dwarf. 

Betty — (Excitedly) Go on. 

Bobbie — He was about to jump through the win- 
dow — 

Betty — When the airplane followed the beacon light 
and hurled a bomb upon us. 

Bobbie — (Whirling upon her) Then it was really 
so. 

Betty — We went together and we have returned. 

(They rise. Shouts are heard near at hand and the chil- 
dren cling to one another.) 

Betty — Germans ! (Boy Scouts enter.) Oh, how you 
frightened us. 

Bobbie — Almost to death. 

First B. S. — What's the matter with you two? Been 
dreaming things? What if we had been Germans? 

Bobbie — I'd have killed you. 

(Laughter on the part of the Scouts and cries of 

"You.") 

Bobbie — Say, cut out that stuff. I want to be a mem- 
ber of the Junior Red Cross. Here's my quarter. And 
this dollar (Displays one) goes for thrift stamps. 
Uncle Sam and I are partners from now on. 

First B. S. — That's the way to talk. Let's cheer him 
boys. (Cheers.) 

Boy Scouts — What's the matter with Bobbie? 
He's all right; 

He's going to help his country 
Win the fight. 

Betty — Cheer me too. I'm sure I need it. I'm going 
to belong to the Junior Red Cross, too. Here's my money, 
and I'm going to learn to knit. 

Second B. S. — She's worth cheering, too, boys. 

Boy Scouts — Hooray, hooray for this little girl ; 



16 



Bobbie in Belgium 



She'll join the Red Cross and knit and 

purl. 
Hooray for Betty. 
Second B. S. — Out with the flag, flag bearer. Let's 
wave it here, in honor of the occasion. We got two mem- 
bers all at once and they came across better than any 
of the others. (They unfurl flag) 

Bobbie — There's another banner that ought to be 
flown along with this one, boys, and that's the Red Cross, 
the symbol of mercy over the entire world. When I'm a 
man, I'm going to do great things by the Red Cross. But 
I'm not going to wait until I'm a man to try to help. 

CURTAIN 




The Pageant of the Hour 

Especially recommended for a Red Cross 
benefit or any patriotic entertainment to raise 
funds for the army at home or abroad. :: :: 

The SPIRIT OF 



DEMOCRACY 



11 



AN ALLEGORICAL PAGEANT OF THE 
WORLD WAR, IN BLANK VERSE, 

=: By MERAB EBERLE - — 

The action takes place at the throne of 
Autocracy, following a brief prologue by the 
prophet. The allies come to the aid of the 
Spirit of Democracy and crush Autocracy. :: 

The pageant may be given indoors or out- 
doors and is capable of simple or elaborate 
production." :: :: :: :: :: :: 

A SPLENDID FEATURE ON ANY PATRIOTIC PROGRAM 

16 characters, male and female or all female. 
Time about 30 minutes. :: :: ;: :: 

-iS^^^PRICE 25 CENTS ._.^> 

ELDRIDGE ENTERTAINMENT HOUSE 

FRANKLIN, OHIO jt j. j. DENVER, COLO. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

016 215 124 1 



ANOTHER PATRIOTIC MONOLOG 



"WHEN mm CAME HOME 
FROM THE MARNE" 



By SEYMOUR S. TIBBALS 



•nPHE STORY tells of a widow's son, a peace- 
* ful young farmer, who enlisted in the U. 

S. Marines and lost an arm, as his father lost 

an arm at Shiloh. A stirring description of a 

gas attack and how the Marines won the 

fight. 
The climax is reached when Monty comes 

back and drives the cattle up the lane. 
Suitable for any reader and a number that 

will be welcome on any program. 



PRICE 25 CENTS 



THE ELDRIDGE ENTERTAINMENT HOUSE 

FRANKLIN, OHIO also JtlX DENVER, COLO. 



